{"id":716216,"date":"2026-06-05T06:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/716216\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T06:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:45:11","slug":"canadiens-nearly-acquired-matthew-knies-at-deadline-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/716216\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens Nearly Acquired Matthew Knies At Deadline \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around the trade deadline, it was reported that the Montreal Canadiens had completed a significant trade with an unidentified team; however, the other team was unable to file the trade by the 3 pm ET deadline. According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period<\/a>, the trade partner is now known, with the outlet reporting the Canadiens and Maple Leafs had agreed to a trade for Matthew Knies<\/a> back in March.<\/p>\n

Pagnotta had the details on the proposed return package, too. The Canadiens were prepared to send Alexander Zharovsky<\/a>, who recently won Rookie of the Year in the KHL, another top prospect, and two first-round selections to the Maple Leafs. It has been confirmed that neither Michael Hage<\/a> nor David Reinbacher<\/a> was the other prospect in the deal.<\/p>\n

Had the trade been completed, it would have sent ripples around the league. For one, although he had been involved in trade rumors leading up to the deadline, it\u2019s relatively shocking that the Maple Leafs would actually entertain trading Knies, and not building around him. He\u2019s only 23 years old, is signed long-term, and has had two consecutive productive years with Toronto.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, given Montreal\u2019s lack of scoring depth became their Achilles heel in the Eastern Conference Final, Knies certainly would have changed their outlook. The Canadiens boast one of the best first lines in the league; however, their lack of a strong second line turned them into a one-dimensional team, and the Hurricanes dispatched them easily.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Having Knies, a young winger who has scored 52 goals and recorded 124 points in 157 games for the Maple Leafs over the past two years, would have provided Montreal with a significant asset to place alongside\u00a0Ivan Demidov<\/a>. Additionally, Knies was relatively productive in Toronto\u2019s playoff run last year, scoring five goals and seven points in 13 games, while also delivering 31 hits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While trade talks may potentially resume this summer, it is unlikely that they will do so. Brad Treliving<\/a>, the Maple Leafs\u2019 General Manager at the time, agreed to that trade. The Maple Leafs have since transitioned to a different regime under John Chayka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chayka has a mandate to keep captain Auston Matthews<\/a> happy, or risk him asking for a trade out of town if Chayka can\u2019t turn the team around. Trading Knies away for futures wouldn\u2019t be conducive to that goal.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s unlikely that the Canadiens will be able to pursue Knies this summer, it is clear that the team intends to be aggressive in reaching their next competitive stage. Given that they\u2019re willing to trade with divisional opponents, Montreal may already be in touch with the Detroit Red Wings about their captain, Dylan Larkin<\/a>, who requested a trade<\/a> from the team earlier today.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski of Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Around the trade deadline, it was reported that the Montreal Canadiens had completed a significant trade with an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[72357,49,48,46787,743,4247,82,746],"class_list":["post-716216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alexander-zharovsky","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-matthew-knies","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-newsstand","tag-sports","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}